MEET BROTHER . . .

Powell “Gil” Gilenwater

AZ Beta ‘76 (Arizona State)

Recognizing decades of tireless volunteer work and leadership with Scottsdale-based Rancho Feliz Charitable Foundation, local philanthropist Powell "Gil" Gillenwater, Arizona Beta '76 was chosen by Premio a la Sonora Filantropia (Sonora Award for Philanthropy) as the individual philanthropic person of the year for the Mexican state of Sonora. Gillenwater is the first-ever Arizona resident and non-Mexican citizen to win this prestigious award.

The ceremony was held December 14, 2021, in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. Premio a la Sonora Filantropia was established in 2005, in order to develop awareness and social responsibility among altruistic individuals, companies and institutions.

Gil Gillenwater is a lifelong Arizona resident. He attended Arcadia High School in Scottsdale where he distinguished himself as an All-State football player. He attended college on football scholarships at Brigham Young University and then transferred to Arizona State University. After college Gil and a partner purchased a Century 21 residential real estate franchise and built the company up to the largest producing Century 21 office in the western United States. Gil is currently a principal in the Scottsdale-based SDI, Inc. This company was founded in 1984 and specializes in land investment and entitlement. Since its inception, SDI, Inc. has purchased and sold over 10,000 acres of land located in and around the Phoenix and Sedona areas.

Gillenwater formed Rancho Feliz in 1987 with the goal of addressing both sides of poverty: from Mexico's material poverty to America's spiritual, or purpose, poverty. In addition to providing food, housing, medical care, and education to Mexico's underprivileged, the organization offers a cross-border venue where American and Canadian volunteers travel to Mexico and find meaningful connections by helping those not born into privileged circumstances. Gillenwater says, "We feed their stomachs, they feed our souls. We call this 'Reciprocal Giving' and to date over 25,000 volunteers, mostly students, have improved their own lives by helping the less-fortunate. The volunteers bring this new-found awareness home, helping to reweave the moral fabric of our own communities. Everyone wins under our volunteer model."

A lifelong resident of Arizona, Gillenwater currently serves as President of Rancho Feliz. "I am truly honored to receive this award and grateful to the many volunteers who've devoted so much of their time and support to Rancho Feliz," says Gillenwater.

For 34 years, Rancho Feliz has raised and invested over $16 million dollars to build homes, education centers, childcare centers, orphanages and volunteer dormitories along Arizona's southern border. The organization has distributed several tons of medical supplies, sponsored many medical procedures and dispensed more than 400 tons of food to provide 4.6 million meals to the hungry. They have funded over 2,000 scholarships and even created a spay and neuter dog program. This infrastructure has provided the foundation for entire families to lift themselves from extreme poverty into the global middle class.

In addition to his involvement with Rancho Feliz, in 2005 Gil established the Guardian Warrior Foundation, Inc. Gil is President of this organization and he self-funds the charity.

In 1999, Gil was a recipient of the Hon Kachina Award, Arizona’s highest honor for volunteerism. In 2000, he was one of five members throughout the United States chosen to receive the National Association of Realtors, “Good Neighbor Award”, likewise honoring volunteerism.

Ryan bethell

CA Alpha ‘08 (Standford)

Ryan Bethell (Califonia Alpha, 2008) is a Founding Partner at the Ideas Law Firm, PLLC, which own sand operates trademarkelite.com.  Ryan holds a degree in Economics from Stanford University, and MBA and Juris Doctor Degrees from the Sandra Day O’Conner College of Law and W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, respectively. 

Ryan has an eclectic work experience, having worked as a brand manager, High-school and college educator, litigation associate, and operations officer. Prior to founding the Ideas Law Firm, Ryan was the Managing Attorney for LegalForce RAPC, a law firm that files thousands of trademarks each year.

Ryan leverages his business and legal experience in advising his clients. He aims to understand the "big picture" of what matters to his clients’ businesses, and work collaboratively to craft profit-maximizing solutions.

He is also a Director of the SAE Phoenix Alumni, Inc. since 2017.

Don Budinger, AZ Alpha ‘63

(Arizona)

As one of the founders of the Rodel Foundations, Don serves as the chairman of the board of directors of Rodel Arizona as well as a board member for Rodel Delaware. He is also Founding Director and former Chairman of Science Foundation Arizona, founding Chairman of College Success Arizona, a founding board member of Tucson Values Teachers, Emeritus Board Member of Stand for Children and currently serves on the board of Basis Charter Schools. He is a member of Greater Phoenix Leadership, Southern Arizona Leadership Council, and the O’Connor House Advisory Group. Don is also a Lifetime Member of the Arizona State University President’s Club and as well as a Trustee of ASU.

 Don has been recognized as a “Distinguished Associate” by the Morrison Institute for Public Policy. The O’Connor House presented him with their Community Leadership Award and he was recognized by Teach for America as a “Homeroom Hero.” Children’s Action Alliance honored him with the Horace Steel Child Advocacy award; he also received a child advocacy award from the New Directions Institute.

 The University of Arizona College of Engineering recognized Don for “Distinguished Service” while Northern Arizona University awarded him an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters and the Arizona Board of Regents presented him with an award for “Outstanding Achievement in Higher Education.”

On this 165th SAE Anniversary Founder’s Day, March 9, 2021, the SAE Phoenix Alumni present SAE Alumnus, Donald Budinger, Arizona Alpha, THE HIGHEST EFFORT AWARD for Science and Technology in appreciation of his distinguished career and service that advances the mission of Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity.

kyle stickles

AZ Beta ‘11 (Arizona State)

Kyle has been a member of the SAE Phoenix Alumni for the past five years and has undertaken the role for updating our social media accounts with Facebook and Linkedin.  Kyle received his Bachelor of Science degree from the Barrett Honors College at Arizona State University.

He specializes in occupier representation for office users in the Phoenix metropolitan area and throughout the Southwest.  Kyle has risen to Vice President of CRESA, a major commercial real estate firm and has represented significant clients like State Farm Insurance, Vaco, Wallick & Volk, InEight, Academy Mortgage, MegaPlanIT, Enchantment Group, Triple Crown Conulsting, Eaton Provident Group, Resnick & Lotus, P.C., Reliable Risk Management and BCJ Capital Management. Prior to joining Cresa, Kyle was part of the Tenant Advisory group with Cushman & Wakefield, another major national commercial real estate firm.

Kyle was recognized as the Most Outstanding Broker in 2020 and should be recognized again for 2021 when announced this April.  He and his wife Katie have traveled the world and in December, 2021, they welcomed their first child and daughter, Haisley Jo.

Bill Wienke, TX Alpha ‘60 (Texas Tech)

Bill has been a diligent Recorder of this SAE Phoenix Inc. since its inception in 2014. He brings years of investment banking experience. He served Texas Alpha as Eminent Archon (Fall 1959) and had 24 years in the Securities Industry including 6 years as President of a regional New York Stock Exchange firm and 8 years as a Business Consultant in western U. S. and Canada.

In 2022, the SAE Phoenix Alumni Inc. established a new recognition to be given annually which will be called the “Bill Wienke Distinguished Alumnus Award”.

After losing his wife of 60+ years to cancer, Bill took time to paint five full size original Coat of Arms for the chapters in AZ, Nebraska, TX Alpha and the SAE Phoenix Alumni.

Brother Pasternak comes to us from upstate New York at Binghamton University where he became SAE Badge #239611.  Interestingly, despite graduating cumma sum laude and being extremely involved in SAE in college as Philanthropy Chair, as well as collegiate swimming for Binghamton University, he was wait listed at numerous medical schools.  He chose to pursue an opportunity to study in Tel Aviv, Israel in an American program to quench my desire to travel, experience different culture, live abroad and study medicine. 

Dr. Pasternak is currently the medical director of the Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Center at Phoenix Children's Hospital where he manages a multi-disciplinary team caring for over 500 children with Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease.  Brad began his training doing basic science research in a world-class laboratory under a NIH grant but realized his passion was in clinical medicine, which brought him to Phoenix. 

He has been very active in the community, serving on the IBD committee of the North American Society of Pediatric Gastroenterology, the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation medical advisory committee, the National Scientific Advisory Committee (pediatric affairs and grant review), as well as recently been named to the editorial board of the Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition Reports Journal.  Brad was named Physician of the Year by the Southwest Chapter of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation and has been named Top Doc in Phoenix for multiple years. 

In addition, he currently serves as Co-Chair of the data operations committee of a pediatric IBD collaborative called Improve Care Now which involves over 150 centers internationally and 50,000 patients.  In addition to his role in the IBD center, he also serves as the director of Fecal Microbiota Transplant at Phoenix Children's Hospital where he performed the first ever fecal transplant on a pediatric patient in the state of Arizona.  PCH is currently the only center performing this in the Southwest.  Combining these two interests, Brad is now working on a study in collaboration with the Dean of ASU’s New School to evaluate the microorganisms in the gut of kids with IBD to determine the role they play in causing this disease. 

Brother Pasternak is beloved by the patients and families under his care and stays in touch with many as they have transitioned to adulthood.  He found a passion and calling and feels lucky to be able to do what he loves for a living and makes a difference.